Jimro, the IOC stopped using 300 metre centerfire free rifle matches in the 1970 and just used 50 meter smallbore ones. They did that so countries could more easily and cheaply build ranges. A 50 metre rimfire range will fit in a building. But a 300 meter centerfire range needs a few miles of safety zone behind it.

The only time the IOC bowed to pressure from protesters was when they (and the International Shooting Union) changed the "running boar'' match target from a picture of a running wild boar with scoring rings centered on its heart area to a standard round bullseye target. Animal rights protesters didn't like seeing that great looking lithographed picture full of bullet holes well centered on those scoring rings. Scores wentup as the middle of the bullseye was easier to see as that boar was pulled across a 10 meter opening. Half of the runs are slow (target visible for 5 seconds), and half are fast (target visible for 2.5 seconds)